Whatever
the ingredients, the spectacle has definitely caught
the fancy of the mob. Today, wrestling is probably
the most popular of the pro sports. -- Joe Williams,
Judge, 1932

The
one nice thing about rassling is that no one can libel
it -- Arthur Daley, New York Times

Professional
wrestling is not a fraud. It is preposterous, if you
wish, or ludicrous, but it is not fraudulent, any
more than it is fraudulent when Abbott and Costello
fall into a cement mixer with a baboon -- injuries
may be regarded as industrial accidents -- to use
the word 'champion' in professional wrestling is to
lose touch with reality.-- Sam Beal

Can
you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling?
-- Max Von Sydow character in Hannah and Her Sisters,
1986

Men
like Savoldi, Sonnenberg, McMillen -- football players
-- started using that flying tackle mess and with
it came kicking, butting and even some biting. Wrestling
wasn't ability any more, it was more like legalized
murder. If wrestling is ever to gain the popularity
it deserves, it needs to cut out all the punching
and kicking and throwing guys out of the ring. Wrestling
wasn't dull when Caddock, Stecher, Pesek and Strangler
Lewis were going good. Those guys were real grapplers
and they'd give you a real contest. The officials
have got to stop these guys from getting away with
everything and anything. -- George Bothner, former
wrestler and longtime referee, to Nat Loubet, editor,
Ring Wrestling, August, 1965

Nat
Loubet's All-Time Top 15 in August, 1965, Ring Wrestling:
Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, Great Gama, Stanislaus
Zbyszko, Joe Stecher, Earl Caddock, John Pesek, Strangler
Lewis, Ivan Poddubny, Lou Thesz, Tom Jenkins, Dick
Shikat, Alex Aberg, Youssouf the Terrible Turk, Hans
Steinke. A few of them can wrestle, but I don't hold
that against them. I've never seen an honest wrestling
bout in my 20 years in the game. Maybe there was one,
but I wasn't there. - - Jack Pfeffer

In
our view, all-in wrestling cannot be regarded as true
wrestling. We do not consider that it contains any
element of sport, and we regard it as a degrading
and unhealthy form of entertainment. -- Public Control
Committee, London (England) County Council, in asking
for a wrestling ban, Nov. 17, 1941. For many years,
professional wrestling was popular in the United States,
reaching its peak in the 1920s and 1930s. Notable
wrestlers in the 20th Century included George Hackenschmidt,
Ed (Strangler) Lewis, Earl Caddock, Jim Londos, Joe
Stecher, Stanislaus Zbyszko and John Pesek.& Professional
wrestling in the United States has now largely degenerated
into a pre-arranged parody of rough and tumble acting.
-- Philip J. Rasch, Encyclopedia Americana, 1970

From
Punjab, in India, came Daula He had shoes but not
any caula But his shoes they were tight And he threw
them one night At a wrestler who started to haula
-- Unknown Author, 1930s (perhaps Dan Parker)

The
things they say about in politics no honest man can
take. If I say in politics, I'll slug somebody for
sure. When a wrestler gets personal in the ring I
let him have one right on the jaw, or maybe I pick
him up and slam him to the mat. But if I tried that
on one of these politicians, I'd land in jail and
be sued for all I own. Wrestling is on the level,
but politics -- Man Mountain Dean, after withdrawing
from race for lower Georgia house of legislature,
Aug. 8, 1938